This is an exploratory transcultural field investigation whose main aims are to establish whether the syndrome childhood autism described in Western psychiatry occurs anongst the indigenous populations of developing countries in Africa. Ascertained mentally handicapped young children in several countries will be screened according to behavioral criteria. Behavioural, familial, and medical information for each possible case will circumscribe locally occurring variants of the syndrome in comparison with similar data for a representative sample previously identified in England. Implications of the findings for theories of etiology and for the possible specificity of the syndrome will be explored.